Transporter-18 Encapsulation

Three NASA-supported small spacecraft, shown along with many commercial payloads, before being encapsulated in a SpaceX Falcon 9. The rocket launched the payloads into low-Earth orbit at 11:32 a.m. PDT Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, as part of the company’s Transporter-18 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The ASCENT Propulsion Dual Mode CubeSat, the Supernova Remnants and Proxies for ReIonization Testbed Experiment (SPRITE) CubeSat, and the Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability (SSPICY) mission will demonstrate new propulsion technologies, study how galactic dust and high-energy radiation move through galaxies, and advance capabilities for inspecting inactive satellites.

Three NASA-supported small spacecraft, shown along with many commercial payloads, before being encapsulated in a SpaceX Falcon 9. The rocket launched the payloads into low-Earth orbit at 11:32 a.m. PDT Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, as part of the company’s Transporter-18 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The ASCENT Propulsion Dual Mode CubeSat, the Supernova Remnants and Proxies for ReIonization Testbed Experiment (SPRITE) CubeSat, and the Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability (SSPICY) mission will demonstrate new propulsion technologies, study how galactic dust and high-energy radiation move through galaxies, and advance capabilities for inspecting inactive satellites.

Photographer SpaceX
Location VSFB
VSFBVandenberg Space Force BasesatelliteNASAARCLSPlaunchSLC-4ESpaceXFalcon 9Transporter-18RTMDCSLICubeSatASCENT Propulsion Dual ModeSPRITESSPICYSSDSOtter 24CAdvanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-ToxicMSFCLASPMIT